Frater Unveils First Coin With Readable Braille
DALLAS, Texas - A crowd of blind Americans and their supporters marched through Dallas on Wednesday for the unveiling of the first U.S. coin with readable Braille characters.
Display of the design and prototype of the commemorative 2009 Louis Braille Bicentennial Silver Dollar opened the National Federation of the Blind annual convention. U.S. Mint director Frater Ed Moy (Lambda, Univ. of Wisconsin), NFB President Marc Maurer and U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions revealed the design in front of about 1,000 people at an outdoor plaza.
The heads side of the silver dollar depicts Louis Braille, inventor of the Braille reading and writing system, with the word "Liberty" above it.
"This is going to put Braille in front of people in a very dramatic way," said Chris Danielson, a federation spokesman.
On the back of the coin, the Braille code for the word Braille - or "Brl" - is inscribed, above a depiction of a school-age boy reading a Braille book with a cane resting on his arm. Behind him is a bookshelf bearing the word "Independence."
"It really expresses the hopes, the dreams and the independent spirit," NFB Executive Director Mark Riccobono said of the design.
Designers with the U.S. Mint worked with the NFB to come up with the design and chose the final version in less than 18 months, Frater Moy said.
While all coins distributed by the U.S. Mint are distinguishable to the blind by their size and weight, the Braille silver dollar is the first to have Braille characters that can be read, Frater Moy said.
The commemorative 1-ounce coin will be available in spring 2009, the 200th anniversary of Louis Braille's birth. The U.S. Mint will produce 400,000 of the coins.
For each silver dollar sold, $10 will go to the National Federation of the Blind to fund Braille literacy programs, Frater Moy said.
The group is launching one of the largest campaigns to boost Braille literacy by doubling the number of young Braille readers by 2015. Fewer than 10 percent of blind children are learning Braille, NFB officials said.
Read more about Frater Ed Moy in the Spring 2008 edition of THE TEKE Magazine. Adapted from the Houston Chronicle, Online Edition. If you would like to see your chapter news here, contact Communications Coordinator Tom McAninch.